Over the years a variety of systems have been devised for the collection and utilization of solar energy. While many of these systems are quite efficient in accomplishing the objective, i.e. collecting and storing solar energy to supplement or replace more expensive systems utilizing common sources of energy, one primary problem remains, to wit the initial cost of making and installing an efficient solar energy collecting system. If a solar energy collecting system is very expensive to make and install, such high capital expenditure is discouraging, since the potential user must wait too long in amortizing this cost before realizing any savings in energy expense.
In my co-pending application Ser. No. 775,871 I disclose a solar energy collecting system which may be made from inexpensive materials with low labor cost in construction of the system and installation thereof. The simplicity of the structure of this system resulting in a low capital expenditure for initial installation makes such a system attractive simply because its low cost may be amortized over a shorter period of time; thereby the purchaser may look forward to actual savings in overall energy costs in a period of time which he can see and realize rather than some remote time which is discouraging to contemplate. The system devised in my above co-pending application involves a novel method for the making of the reflectors which it utilizes. This method is one of the important factors in reducing the overall cost of the system because of the utilization of inexpensive materials and the simplicity of the steps for assembling such materials into finished units which may then be incorporated into a solar energy collecting system at low cost.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of making a solar reflector which is very economical because of the utilization of inexpensive materials.
Another object is to provide such a method wherein the steps for fabricating the few parts making up the assembly are simple and can be carried out inexpensively.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a method which involves very few steps to complete the assembly of the unit thereby reducing labor costs.
A final object of the invention is to provide such a method wherein the steps thereof can be carried out without utilization of expensive machinery, indeed one that can be accomplished with inexpensive standard tools.
Other objects, advantages and salient features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.